Saudi Arabia’s canned food market is expected to register positive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 1.9 per cent during the period 2018-2022, said a report from Ken Research, a leading market research and data analytics company.

The primary drivers of canned food market in future will be the increasing urban population in Saudi Arabia, added the report.

This will see an increase demand for canned food because of the hectic lifestyle of the urban populace leading consumers to prefer food that is easily and quickly prepared or is ready-to-eat, it said.

Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "Saudi Arabia Canned Food Market Outlook to 2022 - by Product Categories (Canned Dairy, Canned Meat, Canned Fish, Canned Cooking Sauces, Canned Legumes and Beans and Canned Fruits and Vegetables), by Distribution Channels (Bakalas, Hypermarkets, Supermarkets, Others), by Regional Sales (Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca-Medina, Dammam and Others), by End User (Hotels, Restaurants and Catering Companies, Fast Food Outlets and Retail Consumers)" believe that by investing in R&D and introducing canned ready-to-eat beef/chicken stew, ready-to-eat stir fry vegetables, ready-to-eat pasta and ready-to-eat preparations of popular Saudi recipes across canned food categories and organic canned food will aid the canned food market.

It has been anticipated that an increasing number of women joining the workforce is likely to have a positive effect on the demand for canned food. This is because, due to lack of time to be devoted to cooking in the kitchen, they would prefer to buy canned food products which are faster to cook with, it said.

Introduction of new products and packaging will make more variants of products accessible to the consumer, leading to growth in sales of canned food products.

However, increasing health awareness among the population is leading to consumers buying fresh or frozen products over canned products as former are perceived to be healthier. This is expected to constrain the demand for canned food products, added the report.

Increasing number of food retail outlets with increasing urbanisation, R&D investments and marketing strategies used by players in the canned food market are expected to have a positive effect on the overall revenue of the Saudi Arabia canned food market, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service